Sprayable anti-infective and anti-biofilm coatings for industrial, agricultural, and consumer applications

COVID-19大流行和对新出现的抗生素耐药细菌的日益关注使得开发使表面病原体失活的新方法变得越来越重要。从生物医学植入物到生物反应器，再到石油管道等各种领域，密集的生物膜（细菌和细胞外聚合物的组合）的根除比杀死单个细菌更具挑战性，目前所有（极少数）可用于生物膜灭菌的产品都需要使用腐蚀性很强或对环境有毒的成分。虽然一些工程表面已经证明了长期防止生物膜形成的潜力，但目前所有的方法在使用寿命和/或在不同表面的使用点上应用的能力方面都有缺点，而不是在制造过程中直接应用。在这个联盟项目中，来自麦克马斯特大学的一组研究人员将与Suncor能源公司密切合作，开发可喷涂涂层，该涂层可以粘附在各种表面上，以促进长期的抗微生物和抗生物膜活性，时间从几天到几个月不等，具体取决于目标应用。通过开发技术，将Suncor鉴定的高效细菌/生物膜失活的生物活性配方整合到可喷涂的聚合物和/或水凝胶基前体溶液中，在干燥后形成薄膜，我们的目标是开发环保型（在某些情况下是完全生物基的）涂层，可以固定、稳定和控制生物活性剂的释放。促进与农业（防止植物病害以提高作物产量）、消费品（防止疾病通过台面、门把手或运输轨道等高接触表面传播）、工业设备（维持发酵反应器或输油管道的长期运行）和其他应用相关的表面消毒。森科和麦克马斯特团队之间的密切合作，包括森科员工在麦克马斯特的现场工作，将确保一个理想的综合项目工作流程，共同开发一系列具有健康和经济效益的可喷涂抗菌涂层。

The COVID-19 pandemic and increasing concerns over emerging antibiotic resistant bacteria have made the development of new approaches to deactivate pathogens on surfaces increasingly critical. The eradication of dense biofilms (combinations of bacteria and extracellular polymers) that can develop in areas as diverse as biomedical implants to bioreactors to oil pipelines is even more challenging than killing a single bacteria, with all of the (very few) products now available for biofilm sterilization requiring the use of very corrosive or environmentally toxic components. While some engineered surfaces have demonstrated potential for the long-term prevention of biofilm formation, all current approaches have drawbacks in terms of their longevity and/or ability to be applied at the point-of-use on diverse surfaces instead of directly during manufacturing. In this Alliance project, a team of researchers from McMaster University will work closely with Suncor Energy to develop sprayable coatings that can adhere to a variety of surfaces to facilitate long-term anti-microbial and anti-biofilm activity over time periods ranging from a few days to several months, depending on the target application. By developing techniques to integrate bioactive formulations identified by Suncor for highly effective bacteria/biofilm deactivation into sprayable polymer and/or hydrogel-based precursor solutions thatcan form thin films upon drying, we aim to develop environmentally-friendly (and in some cases fully bio-based) coatings that can immobilize, stabilize, and control the release of the bioactive agents over time, facilitating surface sterilization relevant to use in agriculture (preventing plant disease to enhance crop yields), consumer products (preventing disease transmission via high-touch surfaces like countertops, door knobs, or transit rails), industrial equipment (maintaining long-term operation of fermentation reactors or oil pipelines), and other applications. The close collaboration between the Suncor and McMaster teams, including on-site work at McMaster by Suncor employees, will ensure an integrated project workflow ideal to collaboratively develop a line of sprayable anti-microbial coatings with health and economic benefits to Canada.